Friday, November 19, 2010

Vaughan by-election notes

In respect of the Conservative candidate in the Vaughan by-election in particular.

First, this note which seems to typify the way the Conservatives are playing these by-elections, on the down low away from media:

The Vaughan Citizen today learned that federal Conservative candidate Julian Fantino held a telephone town hall with Vaughan voters. Senator Mike Duffy was on hand in Mr. Fantino's campaign office to help facilitate the meeting, according to a media release. The Citizen was not invited to listen in and report on this event, but we are interested in speaking with residents who participated or listened in.

What's to be afraid of here? This is someone who has been in the public eye for so many years, yet this is closed off from media. Others don't have a problem with it:

So far in Vaughan, federal Liberal candidate Tony Genco has conducted such a meeting, as well as municipal election 2010 candidate Steven Del Duca. In both cases, The Citizen participated and reported on the outcome, which included the kinds of questions potential voters were asking as well as the candidates' responses.